Four killed in train crash

A major police investigation has begun into yesterday's high-speed rail crash, which killed four passengers and injured 26 others, because a bomb threat was made against the same stretch of line two days ago.

A major police investigation has begun into yesterday's high-speed rail crash, which killed four passengers and injured 26 others, because a bomb threat was made against the same stretch of line two days ago.

But neither Railtrack nor the train operator says it was told of any threat.

As the injured were being treated in hospitals and bodies were being removed from the twisted wreckage of the 12.10 from King's Cross to Leeds, police sealed off the area as a possible scene of crime.

Last night the head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alan Fry, was at the site. Police said no coded warning was given during the bomb threat and there was no evidence of blast injuries.

Even as the inquiry started, there were accusations and recriminations about the way it was being conducted. Senior officials of the Health and Safety Executive were privately bitterly critical at being asked to leave the crash area. Sources said a trainee driver had been in the cab when the train hurtled off the track at 115mph between Welham Green and Hatfield in Hertfordshire. The Great North Eastern Railway could not confirm whether he was in charge of the engine at the time.

Although police have not ruled out terrorism, investigators are considering two other possibilities behind the derailment - vandalism of the tracks or a broken wheel, axle or rail. One witness saw an axle and two wheels fly off a carriage.

Steven Wilson, 22, was cutting grass in a park 20 metres from the track when he heard the train crash. "It was on a bend when it went over. I looked up and heard a loud bang and scraping and saw the carriages at the back of the first locomotive begin to tilt over.

"Then an axle with its two wheels flew off and hurtled past me at a terrifying speed. They crashed through a fence and rolled across the grass and came to a halt about 40 metres from me. I was absolutely terrified. It could have killed me and it could have been much worse - there's a school near by and kids play here.

"The front of the train was still on the tracks but carriages at the rear went over. One fell over and disintegrated. I saw the roof peel back and just fly off in pieces. Then the driver got out at the front and other people began to climb out and run up and down. There was a lot of panic and screaming, then police and ambulances and helicopters began to arrive." Mr Wilson said he told police what he saw, but they did not take his name.

Three carriages ended up on their side, with four others derailed. Two first-class carriages and the rear locomotive separated from the main section of the train and screeched to a halt, leaving the buffet car, six standard-class coaches and the front locomotive careering a few hundred yards further up the track. The buffet car toppled over and smashed into a track-side pylon that tore off its roof.

Of the 200 passengers on board the train, four were dead at the scene and 33 were taken to local hospitals. The Liberal Democrat environment spokes- man, Don Foster, said the Hatfield crash made it all the more urgent to implement the recommendations of the Cullen Inquiry into last year's Paddington disaster as soon as possible.

Last night the train lay in pieces, some of its 11 sections intact, some tilted at progressively precarious angles and one - the one that disintegrated - angled to the left across the track. Only the bogey, the carriage's wheels and chassis, remained. The rest of the carriage, in GNER's livery of blue with a red stripe, lay 200 metres farther back at the side of the rails.

Asked how a carriage could become separated from its wheels without a collision, Jonson Cox, director of operations for Railtrack, replied: "I simply don't know. We will be conducting a full investigation of our own but we have to let the emergency services finish their work. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and those injured in the crash."

He said the section of track had been checked the day before and was in good condition and clear of objects. "This section is not particularly known for vandalism," he added. "There were no points or signals involved."

Assistant Chief Constable Paul Nicholas, of British Transport Police, said: "Terrorism is always a possibility, as well as vandalism. Two days ago a threat was received on a line of railway between King's Cross and Peterborough and as a result of this we cannot rule out terrorism."

Inspector Alex Carson, of British Transport Police, saidanti-terrorism branch officers and CID detectives were investigating. Asked about vandalism he said: "It is a problem all over the network, in the north and the south, but this stretch is no worse than anywhere else."

The injured are in the Queen Elizabeth II hospital in Welwyn Garden City, and the Lister Hospital in Stevenage. Eighty walking wounded were taken to a conference centre.